After weeks of hanging on to his political career by a thread, Peter Hain finally resigned last Thursday. The fiasco over un-declared donations was never going to go away and the final nail was hammered into his coffin when the matter was referred to the Police.
Hain has always been a figure head in the Labour party. He enjoyed success in Northern Ireland, helping to restore power to the Assembly. He became popular in his role as Secretary of State for Wales, helping to try and push through legislation to give Wales full law making powers. However his bid to become deputy leader of the Labour party was ultimately his downfall.
No election is cheap, and the race to become the deputy leader is no exception. To fund his bid Mr Hain had received £103,000 from 17 separate donations, which he failed to declare until some 4 months after the election. We all make mistakes, but this was unacceptable from a member of the government. To make matters worse, his campaign was a disaster, coming in fifth place out of six candidates.
Despite the matter being investigated by the Electoral Commission and several calls for his resignation, Hain might well have survived had the decision to refer the matter to the Police not been made. Once it was, then it was all over. Had he not resigned, I think he would have almost certainly been sacked. Gordon Brown could simply not afford to have a member of his cabinet facing criminal investigations. Hain said he was ‘resigning to clear his name’.
Hain was certainly a figure head and a character in politics, but I can’t say I’ll miss him. Will he make a comeback to the front bench? I guess it all depends on the outcome of the investigation. However Politics must look to the future, and Hain is not it. I certainly would not like to see him return, but in politics, anything can happen.
